A Raisin in the Sun By Lorraine Hansberry

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Racism and Segregation Jim Crow Laws

“Strange Fruit” performed by Billie Holiday Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on the leaves Blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees Pastoral scene of the gallant south The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burning flesh Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck for the rain to gather for the wind to suck for the sun to rot for the tree to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop

The Play

A Raisin in the Sun Opened on Broadway on March 11, 1959 Cast includes Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, and Ruby Dee The New York Drama Critics name it the Best American Play of 1959 Ran for nearly 2 years on Broadway Made into a film starring most of the Broadway cast in 1961

Connection with Hansberry’s Life Hansberry’s father was a wealthy, real estate broker in segregated Chicago In 1937, her father purchased a home in the Washington Park Subdivision Washington Park had a restrictive covenant that said no black person could live in or own a home in the subdivision Washington Park fought Hansberry and they went to court in 1937

Judge orders the Hansberrys eviction on August 19, 1938 Hansberry appeals to the Supreme Court of Illinois The case of Hansberry, et al vs. Lee, et al goes all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States on October 25, 1940 The U.S. Supreme Court deems restrictive covenants non-existant

“Hansberry Decision Opens 500 New Homes to Race” The Chicago Defender Saturday, November 16, 1940

“Iron Ring in Housing” The Crisis (NAACP Magazine) 47.7 (July, 1940) NAACP estimates that 80% of Chicago is covered by restrictive covenants “The iron ring of restrictive covenants which surrounds the Negro community has prevented its normal expansion in spite of the fact that the colored population has more than doubled in in the last two decades. Within the community practically no living units have been built and few new residences have been made available during the past twelve years.”